General Election 2011 - Douglas East

[piebaps]

Fair point Declan, but I find it refereshingly honest that bungalow Bill compromised his beiefs for money, or at least I would have had he not tried to cover it up with some bullshit about effecting change from the inside blah blah blah.

 

I do some recruiting work from time to time and when you ask a question about motivation, anyone who says "money" is on a winner. Yes there may be other motivations but the large majority of us go to work to earn money plain and simple. Why people try and dress it up with Miss World style "helping sick babies" answers is beyond me. They're only kidding them selves.

[Lost Login]

I'd suggest a distinction needs to be made between the councillors who jumped ship and Malarky. The councillors left because the party wouldn't include them in the internal decision making process.

 

I agree there probabaly does but I would question the motives of anybody who stood under the LVP banner last time round as basically none of them could really have had a true idea of what they were standing for. I also find it very hard to reconcile with what I envisage would happen if PK lost his leadership of the LVP which is that he would flounce off in a big huff.

 

As I said beyond openness and accountability I have no real idea what the philosphy of the party and I am not sure the party has itself expect to oppose in general the position of the council of ministers. I can see no other reason than that for one week PK wanting more money spent on Ramsey Pier and the next opposing spending on replacing the surfaces on the synthetic pictures.

 

If you asked a cross section of their members whether they are a liberal, socialist or conservative party I am not sure they would know despite their name which just seems to have been an attempt to gather some votes on the back of the UK Liberal democrats

[richardkissack]

"I believe that there should be an examination of both the government and of the 3rd sector which receives taxpayer funding as well receiving the benefits of charity status to determine what is truly beneficial to the people of the island rather than to the providers of the service."

 

Clear as mud.

1st sector private business

2nd sector government

3rd sector charities

 

The amount of money which charities receive is enormous, as far as i know the total wealth and income may even be of a comparable size to government itself. So it is important.

 

The Niskanen effect is where a charity is set up by noble people to serve a genuine need. Over time the administrators of the charity pervert the original aims such that the needs of the administrators are prioritised over the needs of the intended beneficiaries and so more and more money is spent on 'administration', until these costs dwarf the real charitable costs.

 

In my view if 80% or more of the income goes in admin costs then it is reasonable to assume the donors to the charity are being deceived.

 

This all too often includes government who spend our money without a peep.

 

Once you get the hang of this thinking you can apply it to government departments as well, is Department X really being run for the benefit of the people or is it being run for the benefit of the civil servants administering it it?

 

Unfortunately I am unable to name names on the forums but some of this should be ringing true wherever you look closely at the 3rd sector so if you know of a charity that does precious little real charity work or a government body that actually does more admin than work please let me know.

[Theodolite]

Once you get the hang of this thinking you can apply it to government departments as well, is Department X really being run for the benefit of the people or is it being run for the benefit of the civil servants administering it it?

 

I would say that all Government Departments are there primarily (with few exceptions) for the purpose of employing those people within them and providing them with a whack of a pension for life.

 

 

 

Mr Kissack,

 

Can you let us know what you have managed to do within Douglas Corporation this past few years? Looking at the above, you have a highly, highly paid Town Clerk there. As far as I can see she is often, well certainly more than expected, away from the Island. That can't be right. Is her prime highly paid purpose to provide a service to the people of Douglas or is she just someone who can be easily controlled and handled by David?

 

Also, can you change my thinking that you all go along with whatever the gang of big boys (Christian, McNicholl, Pitts) say.

[richardkissack]

Once you get the hang of this thinking you can apply it to government departments as well, is Department X really being run for the benefit of the people or is it being run for the benefit of the civil servants administering it it?

 

I would say that all Government Departments are there primarily (with few exceptions) for the purpose of employing those people within them and providing them with a whack of a pension for life.

 

This is quite sad if you are prepared to accept this. If your politicians and media people simply shrug their shoulders then we as a society get what we deserve.

 

Mr Kissack,

 

Can you let us know what you have managed to do within Douglas Corporation this past few years? Looking at the above, you have a highly, highly paid Town Clerk there. As far as I can see she is often, well certainly more than expected, away from the Island. That can't be right. Is her prime highly paid purpose to provide a service to the people of Douglas or is she just someone who can be easily controlled and handled by David?

 

I as an individual cannot do much. I have been able to ask questions and put specific items on the agenda for Leisure Services. As I was lobbied by a chap for allotments and i thought it was such a good idea i put it on the agenda and we have 25 plots up by johhnny watterson's lane with another 25 on the way. I have made suggestions at budget time but it is more difficult to argue well if you are not on P&R. I tried to move money from CCTV to Noble's Park in the last budget but was defeated. It at least made CCTV a little bit controversial. I have also voted against co-operating with anti-terrorist legislation but as with many things this was not reported and i stood alone. So the war on Fungus the Bogeyman at least did not go completely unchallenged in the Council.

 

 

Also, can you change my thinking that you all go along with whatever the gang of big boys (Christian, McNicholl, Pitts) say.

 

David Christian, Ritchie McNicholl, Steven Pitts, David Ashford, Doreen Kinrade and Colin Cain are experienced politicians and can argue their case well in a structured intelligent way. I can categorically state that we do not just go along with David Christian and co, most of us try to behave in a constructive way and some things are best done by email private meeting etc.

 

I have been critical of the Council's reporting and of the Town Clerk so can understand your comments and sympathise but it would be unsporting of me to be too publicly critical of a specified civil servant who is not in a position to defend themselves in public.

[pongo]

I am Richard Kissack:

 

Media should be independent simply to maintain home rule as things stand and we should not merely accept the UK media.

 

This sentence does not make sense.

 

I am Richard Kissack:

 

Attitudes and beliefs along the lines that 'This is the way it is done in the UK' are too subtle and pervasive to be tolerated if home rule is to be maintained and therefore the licence fee agreement with the BBC should be terminated.

 

The bit after the 'therefore' in this sentence does nothing to qualify the bit before the 'therefore'. There is no logical conclusion here.

 

I am not interested in any of your other policies. But if you scrap the licence agreement we will lose legitimate access to the BBC iPlayer, for example. This is an issue given that so many people now choose to view content on demand rather than according to some fixed schedule. There is simply no way that local media could provide the cultural variety or quality and range of programming which the BBC currently provides. Your policy would reduce choice and would potentially also be culturally detrimental.

[Chris Robertshaw]

Declan - please keep up the good work and I hope this focus helps to encourage comment but could I draw your attention to the candidate profiles for Douglas East on page one which I have just been checking - If you click on Brenda's MR profile you get a picture of Eddie Teare.

[Theodolite]

Oooh, a cruel twist of irony perhaps, considering the treatment Eddie Teare has given Mrs Cannell recently.

 

Declan, yep good work. I'm happy for this thread to be removed or whatever, to keep a consistency with all the others.

[Declan]

Oh dear how un-gallant of me - fixed!

[richardkissack]

Pongo quote

 

I am not interested in any of your other policies. But if you scrap the licence agreement we will lose legitimate access to the BBC iPlayer, for example. This is an issue given that so many people now choose to view content on demand rather than according to some fixed schedule. There is simply no way that local media could provide the cultural variety or quality and range of programming which the BBC currently provides. Your policy would reduce choice and would potentially also be culturally detrimental.

 

Pongo quote finsh

 

Well perhaps we need to ask the Irish people on this forum whether they feel culturally deprived as a result of not having the privelege of paying the BBC licence fee. Certainly after speaking to people reviewing the licence fee agreement seems to be a popular idea.

 

Here are some reasons not to pay the BBC.

They seem to ridicule the isle of man, at the end of the regional news they do the weather where they list towns like liverpool manchester preston and then sartfield. Get the feeling they are poking fun.

 

Then there are the leaky bus stories, we are well covered by reporters and journalists who submit their stories to manchester where the editorial policy seems to be show iom in a bad light.

 

The last TT had lots of news winners losers and a foreskin on bray hill that got a lot of chafing (Google John McGuinness foreskin bray hill 3 mins in

), news in anybody's book how much got reported by the bbc?

 

Is it too subtle that our politics are being subtley influenced by faceless nameless people in the uk?

Do you seriously imagine that the treatment meted out to David Cretney over the buses (remember the leaky bus story, is that really a coincidence?) has anything to do with what he has really done? Or are there other people trying to drop David in the poo? Are they being helped by the BBC?

 

Do you think that 'the tax justice network' and richard murphy are being successfully dealt with on the international stage? If we had our own media with about £5m of our money we could defend ourselves against the mr murphy. I do not know how he is funded, do you?

 

One should remember the treatment accorded Andrew Gilligan, one of its reporters, over his broadcast claims about the 'sexing up' of the 'Iraq Dossier' used to justify the UK's participation in the invasion of Iraq and which led to the death of UN Weapons Inspector Dr David Kelly. In spite of Gilligans claims being largely vindicated by subsequent revelations, he was forced to resign from the BBC, as was its Chairman Gavyn Davies and its Director General Greg Dyke. The resignations could not have been forced if the BBC was really independent of the UK government. Ultimately the licence fee is just a subsidy to the UK government to pay for their propaganda machine.

 

 

As for my standard of written literacy, well i do my best and i hope to raise the average standard of literacy in the Keys in September

[Declan]

Of course people will say "great" if you offer to scrap the licence fee, but would they still be as enthusiastic if they were told that it would mean their access to BBC radio and TV would go, and that iplayer would be inaccessible.

 

Ireland has a national tv and radio service that is varied in it's provision, we have Manx Radio. Is that a suitable replacement.

 

You are seeking to take from me 6music, bbc news, football commentaries, Wimbledon, Glastonbury, Documentaries etc and everyone else will lose their favourites and your justification is the choice of weather map landmarks?

 

(What do the leaky buses have to do with it Cretney mentioned it in Tynwald before the BBC took it up?)

 

TT was reported on Radio 5, they even did an hour show from the grandstand - although they naturally concentrate on interesting sports.

[Slim]

Do you think that 'the tax justice network' and richard murphy are being successfully dealt with on the international stage? If we had our own media with about £5m of our money we could defend ourselves against the mr murphy. I do not know how he is funded, do you?

 

 

 

The BBC is superb, and most people don't give a crap about politics. You remove access to East Enders and you'd have a riot. Leave the license fee alone!

[pongo]

Here are some reasons not to pay the BBC.

They seem to ridicule the isle of man, at the end of the regional news they do the weather where they list towns like liverpool manchester preston and then sartfield. Get the feeling they are poking fun.

 

I don't care. I don't watch the regional news or the weather. But I think you are being rather paranoid. Besides the BBC has also made many great programmes which have featured the IOM. Eg - at least 2 editions of a flagship series which is entitled Coast and which was tremendously well received. Not to forget various episodes of Top Gear which many people enjoy. People on this forum described it as a great advert for the IOM.

 

Do you think that 'the tax justice network' and richard murphy are being successfully dealt with on the international stage? If we had our own media with about £5m of our money we could defend ourselves against the mr murphy. I do not know how he is funded, do you?

 

I do not care how he is funded. It is only the strength or weaknesses of his information which ultimately matters. I look forward to the IOM evolving an adequately taxed and long term sustainable economy. If the govt has inadequate resources that is because the existing model has failed. In which case that would be the only issue to address.

 

As for my standard of written literacy

 

Questioning your logic not your literacy.

[BCAG]

Nice to see at this early stage that there is going to be an election in Douglas East

 

Sitting members Brenda Cannell and Chris Robertshaw so far have Richard Kissack and Geraldine O'Neill to contend with.

 

Richard Kissack has been a member of Douglas Corporation this past session. I've not heard a peep from him although to be fair he won't get much media coverage as it appears that David Christian has cornered Isle of Man Newspapers for Council press releases and it does seem that both he and Manx Radio have an affinity to hearing his voice on the national airwaves. Richard clearly knows his place with with King David, and so the likes of Tony Brown and the gang - the professional politicians - will no doubt love to have him in Tynwald and offer him all the support they can. "Hmmm, far better than that awkward Brenda and as for that upstart Robertshaw with all his probing and research...."

 

I have never heard of Geraldine O'Neill but as a school teacher I am sure there might be plenty of young voters who will place their first ever election cross next to Miss' name. Amazing to think that 11 year olds of today will be casting their vote at the following General Election.

 

Cannell and Robertshaw will be difficult to dislodge but they are going to have to work these next few months to stay in.

[BCAG]

Would like to wish Brenda Cannell all the very best for the forthcoming election. Mrs. Cannell worked tirelessly to help the Breast Cancer Action Group keep their dedicated breast surgeon for the patients of the Island. She tried her very best. At least she took the whole matter seriously and realised that it was a very emotive issue unlike a lot of other MHK's Mr.Earnshaw, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Corkish!!